[Lore][SPOILERS] Illidan's book, consistency and timeline(?)

[Yorgl]

[THIS THREAD CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS ABOUT THE ILLDAN'S BOOK AND DH STARTING ZONE.]

If you're interested by the subject but don't intend to read the book, I suggest you read this summary. (If you like lore and will play a DH I highly recommend it.)
http://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/17610893188

So I have two questions that puzzle me, one related to the book vs DH starting zone, the other one the book vs the animated short.

Book vs Mardum

At the very end of the book, Illidan is supposed to open the path to Argus for his DHs hoping they can cut the head (well, the shoulder...) of the Legion. However as we all know, we start our journey IG in Mardum and right off the bat we're told Illidan sent us here to get Sargeras' Key (iirc). While reading the end of the book, I expected a twist at the end justifying that, like illidan missing a critical part to open a path to Argus etc, but nothing like that.
In the book the journey is planned to Argus, Illidan goes there as a spirit to prepare the arrival... the only shadow is that as Maiev blocks the way for Vandel so the reader doesn't know exactly what happened after Illidan summoned his DHs. This might be the twist I excpected to read.
But then, where is this information about the key coming from as when we are narrated what illidan does it's never mentioned ? Maybe the cinematic in 2 days (I play on EU server...) will answer that ?


Book vs Animated Short

On the short, we see an attack that happens against a Pit Lord, apparently on their world (confirmed on wowpedia, if that counts as confirmation...) and I don't see when it was supposed to have happened.
In the book there is the (formidable ♥) attack against Nathreza that required a LOT of preparation and sacrifices, and the preparation for the portal to Argus. While Illidan prepares the portal to Argus, the opening of the previous is mentioned quite often but never another one is evoked. A theory that an attack on pit lord's world would be easier and/or would have happened before the events of the books but both seem very far fetched : such a world is Legion territory and thus, probably hard to reach, and on the video we see a lot of trained DH which indicates that it's at least, say 1-2 years after Illdan started training them ? (Reminder : in the book Vandel arrives 4 years before BT assault. There are already DH trained so we can assume it started say 1 year before that ?)
Any idea of what / when this attack was ?

[Deleted]

The thing about us being sent to Mardum is all about Illidan being weakened. If you recall a few chapters earlier he ventured to Auchindoun and used a device to siphon souls for power that could be used to open a portal to Argus now that Illidan had the knowledge from visiting the homeworld of the Nathrezim. The Soul Siphon inadvertently siphoned some of Illidans power, thus leaving him weakened for weeks to come. As our forces breached the Black Temple, Illidan wanted to send his Demon Hunters away to Argus, but couldn't due to his drastic power reduction. Instead he uses the knowledge he gained from the Nathrezim archive and comes up with a backup plan; sending the Demon Hunters to Mardum to recover the Sargerite Keystone, which will act as a means to invade any legion world, without the need for Illidan to power the portal. The use of the Sargerite Keystone is expanded on in the Demon Hunter class hall campaign and it essentially acts as a key and allows us to go anywhere we want. Had Illidan been fully powered at the time of our assault on the Black Temple, he would have annihilated us, similar to how the Lich King killed us all, except there'd be no Tirion ex machina to save us. In the book it even says that he simply kills a few of us and he's vastly weakened.


As to your second question, I have no idea.

[Orloth]

For the first: The book mentions some artifact to locate Argus from Nathreza, while the keystone seems to allow transportation to any Legion world (based on quest text). So, maybe he needs both? Maybe now that we know where Argus is, we need to break through their protective wards in order to get there.

As to the second: This looks like a batch of *really* green, newly-trained DHs. These weren't the grizzled veterens from WC3, but new recruits being shown their first fight. My guess would be that it happened before Vandel arrived at the Temple, when Illidan was still securing his powerbase on Outland and needed to keep the Legion off his back.

[Yorgl]

Thanks for your answers.

Yeah Orloth, you're right about the fact that these DH seem new, and given the female is Kor'Vas this supports your theory.

I remember the "weakened" part Sintry, yeah. (Actually I even wondered why the Great Naaru didn't heal him a bit. Maybe he couldn't, maybe he didn't cause Illidan was meant to fall. - There's a price to pay. -There always is.) I assume that the rest you mention is speculation ? Not saying that to diminish your post at all, but just to be sure I didn't overlook something while reading.
This probably is something very close that you say, I just wish they include something in the book, like the disk he stole having informations about how to power a portal or something like that. So far, it seems a bit out of the blue ; though I hope the intro cinematic for DH is like the assault on BT and all this part being exposed to us.

[Deleted]

The rest of my post is based on the Demon Hunter starting area and the ending of the book in regards to Illidans power level. No speculation at all

[Orloth]

It's speculation when it's not stated in plain text in a primary source. It could be well founded speculation, but it would still be speculation.

[Deleted]

It's speculation when it's not stated in plain text in a primary source. It could be well founded speculation, but it would still be speculation.

Except the primary source is the DH starting area and the entire DH campaign that I've done...

[Orloth]

Sorry, went back and reread above and I think I misunderstood somewhere. You were referring to the purpose of the keystone, and I thought you were talking about Illidan's motives and plan from the book.

[Deleted]

Sorry, went back and reread above and I think I misunderstood somewhere. You were referring to the purpose of the keystone, and I thought you were talking about Illidan's motives and plan from the book.

No worries